Swimming device.



E. G. HALVORSEN.

SWIMMING DEVICE.

APPLIOATION FILED 00T. 25, 1910 l 115211611166' Nov. 7,' 1911.v l

A NVENTOR l Halvorsen,

WITNESSES ATTORNEYS l EMANUEL GEORGE HALVORSEN, NEW YORK, N. Y..

SWIMMING DEvIcE.

incassa.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. NOV. 7, 1911.

Application filed October 25, 1910. Serial No. 589.048.

To ati whom it' may concern:

Be it known that I, EMANUEL GEORGE HALvoRsnN, a cit/izen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of New York, borough of Brooklyn, county of ings,and State of New York, have invented Certain HGW Mld uciul Improvementsin Swimming Devices, .e which the following is' a full, clear, and exactdescription. 'h

This invention relates more particularly to devices adapted to beattached to the feet T to assist a swimmer in making rapid progressthrough the water.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a simple and efficientdevice which may be readily made and which may be applied 'to the feetof a person similar to that of` a sandal, and to so construct the devicethat a large propelling area is provided when the feet are movedrearwardly while swimming, and which propelling Ameans will becomecollapsed and occupy a f minimum amount of space so as to offer verylittle resistance during the movement of the feet inward preparatory tomaking the next stroke.

Another objectof the invention is to provide a simple and efficientdevice which is so constructed that the same may be used a Shoe beforethe swimmer enters the water.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and etiicientdevice which may be readily and cheaply made and which may be used forvarious purposes.

lVith these and other objects in view,.the invention will be hereinaftermore particularly described with reference to the ac companyingdrawings, which form a partof this specification, and will then bepointed out in the claim at the end of the description.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of one form of deviceembodying my invention, showing the same applied to one of the feet.'Fig 2 is a plan view of thc device. Fig. 3 is a transverse section,taken on the line IUP-III of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4L is a view similar toFig. 3, except that the wings or blades are shown in a collapsedposition.

rthe device may he made of any suitable material and may have any numberof members forming the same and may be attached to the feet or any otherpart of the body in any desired way. As'shcwn, a foot-piece, support ormember lO, conforming to the shape of the foot, is provided which may bemade of wood or other material. At the forward part of the foot-piece 10is a strap 11 which comprises two members each held to the foot-piece atone end and. at their other ends'one of them is provided with aperturesand the other with a buckle to serve as a fastening means for saidstrap. The foot-piece 10 has a fastening member 12 at the rear thereofcomprising a heel piece 13 and a two-part strap member 14 which isfastened to thel foot-piece 10 at one end of each part and the otherends have a buckle 15 and apertures 16, thus serving to properly holdthe device to the foot.

To assist in propelling the swimmer through the water and to serve asmeans by whi A. the person may walk, I provide a plurality of blades ormembers 17 and 18 the number of which may be' varied as desired. Asshown, there are two members which are considerably larger thanthefoot-piece 10 and extend on two sides thereof laterally therefrom.These blades or wings may be made of wood, aluminum or any othermaterial and may be entirely covered with rubber or any other suitablematerial, or may be protected simply. at their edges, as by a band orstrip 19. The band or strip 19 may be of rubber or other material andserves as one means for hold-ing the two members together and in such aWay that the same may be folded or collapsed, and said members formatwo-part propelling device having the line of division lengthwisc of thefoot-piece 10 and arranged under said foot-piece. The member 17 may besomewhat larger than the member 18 so far as the width is concerned, asthe member 18 if made too large might interfere with the movement. ofthe feet while swimming. These memliers are pivotally held together asby the hinges 20 located at. the front and rear ot' the foot-piece 10and said hinges are held in any desired way to said foot-piece, themovement of the members hciugangulai-ly with respect to thc foot-piece.

As the foot-piece l() rests upon the members 17 and 1S, it. will be seenthat when the 'toet'. are forced outward, there being a device for cachfoot, the said members will rest against' the under surface of thefoot-piece to prevent further outward movement thereof and in a positionto give the greatest resistance to the water, but when thefeet are drawn`inward toward the body the two wings or blades will move inward asshown in Fig. 4 and in this position will offer as little resistance tothe water as possible.

The inward or collapsing movement of the blades or members 17 and 18 areagainst the 'tension of the springs 21, the latter being sen cured atone end to the outer edge of the blades or members and at their otherends are secured to opposite sides of the foot'- piece 10, the tensionof said springs being just sufficient to hold the blades in asubstantially horizontal position, or such as shown in Figs. 1 to 3, inorder that the person may use the same to walk with ease while thedevices are on the lfeet.

From the foregoing it will be seen vthat a simple and efiicient deviceis provided which may be made of various sizes and which may be readilyapplied to the feet; that simple1 means is provided whereby the devicemay Abe held to the feet and serve as a means to permit the usertlo walkthereon; and that said device will serve as an effective means claim asnew and desire to secure by Letters Patent A A swimming devicecomprising a. footpiece, means for attaching the foot-piece to` thefoot, a pair of wing members each hinged to the lower face of thefoot-piece along the longitudinal axis thereof, to lie in a planeagainst the bottom of the foot-piece, and to swing downwardly therefromtoward each other, a pair of springs each extending from the outer edgeof one of the wings in a transverse direction to-the side edge of thefootpieee, to normally hold the wings in a plane, but to permit theswinging downward of the wings by pressure thereon, and a continuousannular rubber strip secured to the edges of both ofthe wings.

This Vspecification signed and witnessed f this 8th day of October A. D.1910.

EMANUEL GEORGE IIALVORSEN. Witnesses:

lV. A. TowNiiR, J r., C. BAR'riiLs.

